Misplaced priorities?

[Commander Pickle]

Let me say that I have tremendous respect for FD for creating an amazing game and know how incredibly time-intensive and difficult the work on Elite Dangerous is and continues to be.

My sense in the community is that there is immense desire to improve, complete, and fix core elements of the game that remain annoyingly unfinished. Powerplay has been an imbalanced, confusing mess with a rocky rollout and a mixed reception at best. Major balance problems, graphical issues, ranking issues, and a truly amazing number of other bugs seem to be ever-present. There seem to be a thousand unanswered questions from the player base that don't receive timely answers (but thank you to FD for creating "answers from the devs" today).

I just read newsletter #82 and was disappointed by its contents. The team is spending "a lot of late nights and long weekends" preparing for some major news at Gamescon. First it was Powerplay. Now it's CQC. Who know's what major new feature will be announced at Gamescon? But more importantly...who really cares about that when so many aspects of the game as-is need real work? Wouldn't this small team's efforts be better spent polishing up the current features that so desperately need it?

You know what would make me (and I feel a lot of other players) really happy? If FD came to Gamescon, listed 100 of the top problems/issues/kinks with the game as is and presented players with a complete plan to fix them. That would delight this fan.

Commander Pickle out.

 

[Macgyver]

Let me say that I have tremendous respect for FD for creating an amazing game and know how incredibly time-intensive and difficult the work on Elite Dangerous is and continues to be.

My sense in the community is that there is immense desire to improve, complete, and fix core elements of the game that remain annoyingly unfinished. Powerplay has been an imbalanced, confusing mess with a rocky rollout and a mixed reception at best. Major balance problems, graphical issues, ranking issues, and a truly amazing number of other bugs seem to be ever-present. There seem to be a thousand unanswered questions from the player base that don't receive timely answers (but thank you to FD for creating "answers from the devs" today).

I just read newsletter #82 and was disappointed by its contents. The team is spending "a lot of late nights and long weekends" preparing for some major news at Gamescon. First it was Powerplay. Now it's CQC. Who know's what major new feature will be announced at Gamescon? But more importantly...who really cares about that when so many aspects of the game as-is need real work? Wouldn't this small team's efforts be better spent polishing up the current features that so desperately need it?

You know what would make me (and I feel a lot of other players) really happy? If FD came to Gamescon, listed 100 of the top problems/issues/kinks with the game as is and presented players with a complete plan to fix them. That would delight this fan.

Commander Pickle out.

yes,

best thing FD could do is get rid of the guy who started it.
sell the game on to a real developer.
the current FD team just does not have the programming knowledge to do what needs to be done.
you can see they are struggling.
FD doesn't even attend most gaming meets, has very little to do with its community, look at the question of the week rubbish with the scripted question and answers etc, just weak.

FD will lose the core players who actually want this game to do well.
look at the state of the multi player aspect, grouping is totally broken.

FD need to set up some servers with a couple of guys to admin it, get the MMO side sorted or players will bail as soon as something else comes along.
FD you need to start having more evolvement with us.

Either that or the board needs to step in , remove Mr Elite and take over the direction of this game.
Power play setup is another red light alert at how bad the current team has no clue

 

[technophebe]

I work in software development and from my own experience I think the issue is one that affects many companies (software and otherwise), that the people making the product are divorced from the people making the decisions. It's pretty easy to have a "vision" when you don't have to actually do the hard work of implementing your vision, and your pay scale is above the people doing so such that they could never criticize your design decisions.

I do think that a solid base of a game is there, I just wish that the people making the decisions would listen to the community who are saying loud and clear that they want balance and improvement of existing features rather than entirely new features. Unfortunately when you're a developer you get your orders and do what you're told, regardless of whether you think the decision is wise. I think the game *is* improving, it could just be improving a lot faster if the decision makers would bother to read the forums!

 

[X-Terminator]

Procrastination.

 

[Darkphoenix]

yes,

best thing FD could do is get rid of the guy who started it.
sell the game on to a real developer.
the current FD team just does not have the programming knowledge to do what needs to be done.
you can see they are struggling.
FD doesn't even attend most gaming meets, has very little to do with its community, look at the question of the week rubbish with the scripted question and answers etc, just weak.

FD will lose the core players who actually want this game to do well.
look at the state of the multi player aspect, grouping is totally broken.

FD need to set up some servers with a couple of guys to admin it, get the MMO side sorted or players will bail as soon as something else comes along.
FD you need to start having more evolvement with us.

Either that or the board needs to step in , remove Mr Elite and take over the direction of this game.
Power play setup is another red light alert at how bad the current team has no clue

Sorry man, but I so disagree with this....
Does FD have issues that need to be fixed? Most definitely.......

Is a mutiny against the creator of the game and the person with which there would be no Elite period the answer? Emphatic NO way!

NO!!......just no

Who did you hve in mind to take things over? Like maybe Electronic Arts because what....they have such a great track record right?

Seriously....

 

[Macgyver]

Sorry man, but I so disagree with this....
Does FD have issues that need to be fixed? Most definitely.......

Is a mutiny against the creator of the game and the person with which there would be no Elite period the answer? Emphatic NO way!

NO!!......just no

Who did you hve in mind to take things over? Like maybe Electronic Arts because what....they have such a great track record right?

Seriously....

Obviously you don't know him very well...

 

[Carradin]

yes,

best thing FD could do is get rid of the guy who started it.
sell the game on to a real developer.
the current FD team just does not have the programming knowledge to do what needs to be done.
you can see they are struggling.
FD doesn't even attend most gaming meets, has very little to do with its community, look at the question of the week rubbish with the scripted question and answers etc, just weak.

FD will lose the core players who actually want this game to do well.
look at the state of the multi player aspect, grouping is totally broken.

FD need to set up some servers with a couple of guys to admin it, get the MMO side sorted or players will bail as soon as something else comes along.
FD you need to start having more evolvement with us.

Either that or the board needs to step in , remove Mr Elite and take over the direction of this game.
Power play setup is another red light alert at how bad the current team has no clue

Programming ability isn't the issue. Technically, the game is a marvel. They just need to stop putting in new stuff for a while and start actually fleshing out what's already there. I'll agree there are networking issues to be dealt with, but the whole P2P thing is a design decision, not a programming issue.

 

[Darkphoenix]

Obviously you don't know him very well...

I don't have to......without him there would be no Elite because the original games never would have existed.....what you propose is like Ford Motor Company in the early 1900's telling Henry Ford to take a hike.....just ludicrous man....sorry

EDIT:

I am not white knighting (before the term gets used) either as the last 2 content announcements (PP and CQC) are in my opinion are pretty useless and get away from what the game envisioned was, but to say that a coup of the creator of the game is in the games best interest is one of the most asinine things I have read lately imo

 

[Commander Pickle]

I think it speaks volumes that so far its unanimous agreement on the notion that current features need improvement before new ones are added

 

[CaptainKremmen]

yes,

best thing FD could do is get rid of the guy who started it.
sell the game on to a real developer.
the current FD team just does not have the programming knowledge to do what needs to be done.
you can see they are struggling.
FD doesn't even attend most gaming meets, has very little to do with its community, look at the question of the week rubbish with the scripted question and answers etc, just weak.

FD will lose the core players who actually want this game to do well.
look at the state of the multi player aspect, grouping is totally broken.

FD need to set up some servers with a couple of guys to admin it, get the MMO side sorted or players will bail as soon as something else comes along.
FD you need to start having more evolvement with us.

Either that or the board needs to step in , remove Mr Elite and take over the direction of this game.
Power play setup is another red light alert at how bad the current team has no clue

I've got issues with a number of Elite-related mechanics and decision-making, but I have to say... I totally disagree with almost everything you just said.

 

[Lanz]

Programming ability isn't the issue. Technically, the game is a marvel. They just need to stop putting in new stuff for a while and start actually fleshing out what's already there. I'll agree there are networking issues to be dealt with, but the whole P2P thing is a design decision, not a programming issue.

This. There is a lot wrong with the game, but if anyone thinks its the programming, they don't know jack about programming. The core of the game is probably the one thing that is extremely well done.

The problem is just that it's not much more than the core of the game. FD needs to take a look at the mechanics they've already implemented (combat, mining, exploration, trade) and focus on expanding and enriching those experiences.

I feel that PP was an attempt at casting a wide net and improving all of those things without specifically addressing any of it, and maybe it would if it worked properly.

The biggest obstruction FD faces right now is that they need to buckle down and really decide what they are going to make here. Is this a sandbox MMO? Is this a single-player with some optional online addons? Is this a PVP-centric game? Is this a PVE-centric game? Right now they have mechanics that clash and most of it is exploitable, boring, or dysfunctional, and until they take a stand on what they want to prioritize, nothing they add will really solve anything.

One of the biggest things I learned in development is that if you try to please everyone, you'll just end up with something no one really hates, instead of something someone really loves.

 

[Commander Pickle]

^ That was wonderfully put

 

[Deleted member 38366]

--- Deleted ---

 

[mono]

This I would love but I just don't see it happening.

- a complete Feature-freeze and a pure, major bugfix-, immersion-, depth- and "stuff makes sense now" ..

 

[Arindor]

... Powerplay has been an imbalanced, confusing mess with a rocky rollout and a mixed reception at best. Major balance problems, graphical issues, ranking issues, and a truly amazing number of other bugs seem to be ever-present. ... The team is spending "a lot of late nights and long weekends" preparing for some major news at Gamescon. First it was Powerplay. Now it's CQC. Who know's what major new feature will be announced at Gamescon? But more importantly...who really cares about that when so many aspects of the game as-is need real work?

Couldn't agree more. The amount of time spent creating the worst elements of gaming (IMHO) into ED (PP (dull, grind-until-you-bleed-from-the-ears, weekly turn-based, gaming mechanic) and CQC (pew pew pew arenas)) could have been better used to squash bugs and/or make ED look and feel more populated and lived in. Just because FD have been spending a lot of late nights and long weekends preparing for Gamescon doesn't mean that it fills me with high hopes, especially after PP and CQC. I appreciate the reasoning behind CQC in order to expand the player base, but PP? I mean, seriously, that's all FD could come up with with the time they've had? So, yeah, missed priorities IMO.

PS: Still, ED has plenty of room to shine, so fingers crossed!

 

[nexxo]

Obviously you don't know him very well...

Do you know him?

 

[Titus Balls]

Now I've been pretty critical of Frontier at times because they are making basic mistakes with development and release cycles, but it seems they are taking some of that advice on board (as plenty have complained about them pushing out buggy patches).

But then I also remember when Eve came out, it was a hot mess and riddled with bugs. CCP took the same flack. It took a couple of years for them to work out most of the major issues and then it got a hell of a lot better.

I agree, Frontier need to fix some core issues with this game - some of them programming, but most of them design. But the game has been out for 7 months now - and I've been here for over a year and I do see them moving in the right direction now.

IMHO one of the biggest lacking feature that cripples something like Powerplay is the lack of any in-game tools for mass player interaction. Not everyone uses the forums or reddit, and neither they should - thats OOG and Frontier need to provide a way for PP faction players to interact in a more global way, and across the game types - I think that would go a long way to fixing the issue of people having competing goals within the factions.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Fix bugs do not make money. New functionalities (even bugged) brings money

 

[Badben]

Let me say that I have tremendous respect for FD for creating an amazing game and know how incredibly time-intensive and difficult the work on Elite Dangerous is and continues to be.

My sense in the community is that there is immense desire to improve, complete, and fix core elements of the game that remain annoyingly unfinished. Powerplay has been an imbalanced, confusing mess with a rocky rollout and a mixed reception at best. Major balance problems, graphical issues, ranking issues, and a truly amazing number of other bugs seem to be ever-present. There seem to be a thousand unanswered questions from the player base that don't receive timely answers (but thank you to FD for creating "answers from the devs" today).

I just read newsletter #82 and was disappointed by its contents. The team is spending "a lot of late nights and long weekends" preparing for some major news at Gamescon. First it was Powerplay. Now it's CQC. Who know's what major new feature will be announced at Gamescon? But more importantly...who really cares about that when so many aspects of the game as-is need real work? Wouldn't this small team's efforts be better spent polishing up the current features that so desperately need it?

You know what would make me (and I feel a lot of other players) really happy? If FD came to Gamescon, listed 100 of the top problems/issues/kinks with the game as is and presented players with a complete plan to fix them. That would delight this fan.

Commander Pickle out.

wow, this is one of the worst posts I've read yet. I like how you start by saying you have tremendous respect for FDev and then proceed to explain why they are all idiots who don't know what they are taliking about. Your assertion that the game is super buggy, unfinnished, and unpolished is wrong. This game is incredible. for the scope and scale, there is nothing comparable, and to go along with that we have incredible graphics, great AI, and FDev have been releasing new features and updates at regular intervals. I like Powerplay, I understand that maybe you don't like it, and several of the more vocal forum posters, but Powerplay works well, it will continue to get updates and tweaks for quite a while yet. I am really excited for CQC, I don't care what you think of it, because you've never played it, so please be quiet. For some reason, people like you believe that if FDev doesn't do exactly what you think they should, they are idiots. let me remind you that you are not a game developer, you have no idea about game devolpment, you are basically completely unqualified to make suggestions of any sort. Basically, you are like some dude yelling over the shoulder of a master chef that you should rather season a steak with chocolate sprinkles than salt and pepper.

 

[Cryptonomica]

...
If I could choose between V1.4 being
- some "super-secret great new Feature announced soon(tm)"
OR
- a complete Feature-freeze and a pure, major bugfix-, immersion-, depth- and "stuff makes sense now" Update

I'd sure know where I'd put my money on (the latter of course).
...

As would I.